Persuading people

Have you ever been in a meeting with someone and you know the best way to proceed… and that it would be in their interests… but they aren’t convinced and you just…can’t…find…the… right…words…?

The power to persuade people can be an invaluable tool to support conservation work. For example, you might want to persuade a donor to fund your particular project, or influence a government minister to support important legislation to strengthen national conservation efforts.

If done successfully, the person who has been persuaded becomes motivated to act in the way you need. So the art of persuasion is not to force someone to do something, but to get them to want to do what you want.

By the end of this session you should be able to:

• Identify what can cause an attempt to persuade to fail
• Describe Aristotle’s three key qualities of persuasion
• Name the five Ps of persuasion
• List Cialdini’s six principles of persuasion
• Design a persuasion strategy
• Evaluate your power sources and how you’re using them to influence others